


the price to pay when you disobey

by carefulren



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Amanda needs to step tf off smh, Family, Father Figures, Father-Son Relationship, Found Family, Gen, Headaches & Migraines, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Sickfic, Tumblr Prompt, Whump, dad hank and son connor, pre-deviant connor, slight eden club chapter spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-27 22:14:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15034436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carefulren/pseuds/carefulren
Summary: As Connor progresses in his work with the Detroit City Police Department, he starts to show signs of deviancy. Because of this, Amanda starts to take matters into her own hands.(original prompt: what if when Connor starts showing signs of deviancy, Amanda pulls some bullshit in his headspace and starts giving him migraine headaches everytime he thinks or acts against his protocol? Cue confused and concerned Hank.)





	the price to pay when you disobey

The odd senses of discomfort to the top front part of his head are small at first, mere quick glitches in his system that send brief bouts of stuttered programming to his head. For a while, Connor thinks something is wrong, that he may be in need of a repair, but he’s one among the most advanced android model series to date, so it doesn’t take him long to pick up on a pattern.

Disobey Hank’s orders? Slight discomfort. Disregard a clue to potentially protect an on-the-run deviant? Slight discomfort.

But, as his software instability increases with each minor act or thought of disobedience, the odd sensation becomes worse, and when Amanda pulls him to the garden while he’s in the car with Hank on the way to a crime scene, his systems are pushing out quick, angry programs.

"What is this, Amanda?” He knows it’s her; anytime there’s an issue, it’s always her.

“You’re straying.”

“I am not,” Connor says back, and his words are punctuated by a loud crack of thunder over head. He glances up at the dark sky before pulling a careful gaze back to Amanda. “What are you doing to me?”

“Reminding you of your place.”

Connor’s eyes fly open to see Hank twisted around in his seat and shaking his shoulder.

“Connor! Connor, did you forget to charge yourself or whatever? Where’s your power button?”

Slowly, Connor turns a steady gaze to Hank. “I apologize for causing concern, Lieutenant.”

“What?” Hank pulls away quickly and shoves his door open, arriving at the crime scene while Connor was doing… whatever the fuck that was. “Who the hell said I was concerned?”

Connor keeps a soft gaze to Hank’s back for just a moment before he slips out of the car himself and starts toward the worn down house where a couple was murdered by a deviant.

While he’s looking through the evidence, he samples some Thirium that gives him a model number, and he remembers seeing an android in that model series looking oddly terrified only days before. The android was frantically looking at a bus map, but Connor ignored it because his current orders had been to retrieve Hank from a bar.

He’s 99.7% sure that the android he saw is the same android who did this, and he should tell someone, but that panicked look on the android’s face as him storing that potentially helpful information in a back program.

He gets to his feet, prepared to run through evidence with Hank, but an electric jolt bursts across his forehead, and he has to grip a wall to keep himself upright.

He can hear Amanda’s voice in his head: “Reminding you of your place.” It echoes against his auditory sensors, sounding far too faint yet worryingly close, but he closes his eyes and focuses on the rapid programs that are running rampant to his head.

“Connor?”

Slowly, Connor opens his eyes, his self-repair already mending the glitching programs that Amanda altered, and Hank’s in front of him, his face visibly concerned.

“Did you find anything, Lieutenant?”

Connor deflects because he knows Hank doesn’t do well with certain confrontations. Hank seems hesitant to reply, but he shrugs.

“There was a chair missing in the kitchen. One of the cops found it beside the window in the guest bedroom.”

“An escape route,” Connor says as he and Hank walk to the bedroom, but what he doesn’t say out loud is one burning thought interrupting his programs: but what was the deviant escaping from?

*****

Connor’s almost come to terms with Amanda’s actions against his unsteady instability, but on his way back from the Eden Club, when he made a split-second decision to spare two deviants, his programs suddenly burn hot and send forceful pressure to his head.

It’s so sudden that Connor can’t help but gasp and bring a hand to his head, and Hank, who’s driving the two back to the station for a debriefing, practically jerks the wheel at the sound, his gaze snapping between the slick, dark road before them and Connor.

“Connor? What the hell is wrong?”

“My… my head,” Connor grits out through clenched teeth, and Hank frowns and jerks the car onto the side of the road.

“What do you mean your head?” Hank puts the car in park and takes off his seat belt. “Did you get hurt during that fight? Are you broken or something?”

Hank’s voice is impossibly loud; it sounds like he’s got a megaphone pressed to Connor’s auditory sensors, and Connor can’t help but shrink away from the sound. He fumbles for the door handle with one hand while the other unclicks his seat belt, and then he slips out of the car because the sensation is unbearably uncomfortable.

The second he’s out of the car and on his feet, he manages a few steps before he’s dropping to a crouch and placing his head in cupped hands. He can hear Hank cursing as he gets out of the car, and moments later, there’s a surprisingly gentle touch to his back.

“Connor, talk to me, kid. You’ve gotta help me understand what’s going on.”

Hank’s voice is uncharacteristically soft, his tone just loud enough to where Connor’s auditory sensors can pick up on it without feeling in an overwhelming competition with the glitching programs sending waves of discomfort to his head. He keeps his gaze locked to the wet pavement below him as his programs filter through possible descriptive words. One small word keeps popping up despite how many times Connor tries to disregard it.

“Pain,” he finally mutters, and Hank’s hand goes rigid against his back.

“But you can’t…”

“I know,” Connor answers a little too quickly, his vocal projection sounding a little too shaky and nervous, both shows of emotion he’s not accustomed to.

“What can I do?” Hank asks, his own voice shaking a lot because he’s crouched on the side of the road in the rain with a faulty android and he has no fucking idea what to do.

“Nothing,” Connor manages out through clenched teeth. “It’s my fault. I… I’m… My software instability is becoming too high.”

“Your software instability?” Hank parrots back, his tone tipping up and getting a little louder. “What the hell does that– ”

“Nothing,” Connor says again. The pain, now that he’s come to terms with what is happening, is residing. He knows Amanda is watching, knows that Amanda can see he understands, and she’s backing off… for now. He makes a move to get to his feet, and Hank helps him with a strong hand to his arm, his face mirroring the confusion clouding his mind.

“Woah, Connor. Should you be up?”

“I’m fine now.” Connor says. “I apologize for–”

“The concern,” Hank mocks, finishing Connor’s words. “You’re always apologizing for the fucking concern.” Hank’s angry, not at Connor per se. He’s more mad at himself, mad that he’s let himself get too invested into a fucking piece of plastic. And, he could pull away, distance himself with alcohol, but the thought alone brings a dark haze to his mind, one he’s not sure he will be able to recover from.

So he only stalks to his car and gets inside, slamming the door. But instead of driving off, he waits.

He waits for Connor to get into the car because that’s how far gone he is in the plot that is Connor, the android sent by CyberLife.

**Author's Note:**

> are we even surprised that i'm here writing dbh anymore? 
> 
>  
> 
> Come say hi on tumblr! (@toosicktoocare)


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